Shameless

Costs of owning a 1.6 litre car in Singapore is approximately $1000/month...

Fixed Costs
Date Amount Remarks
26/03/2006 54300 Car price
26/03/2006 1359 Insurance
26/03/2006 765 Transfer fee
17/08/2006 488.5 Road tax

Price of car per month 502.7777778
Insurance per month 113.25
Transfer fee per month 7.083333333
Road tax per month 81.41666667
Fixed costs per month 704.5277778

Running Costs
March/April
Date Amount Remarks
27/03/2006 20 Cashcard
27/03/2006 20 Parking coupons
28/03/2006 71.73 Petrol
04/04/2006 299.75 Servicing
09/04/2006 47.43 Petrol
23/04/2006 58.96 Petrol
517.87 Total

May
Date Amount Remarks
13/05/2006 70.9 Petrol
26/05/2006 20 Cashcard
90.9 Total

June
Date Amount Remarks
17/06/2006 63.02 Petrol
17/06/2006 71.69 Petrol
17/06/2006 20 Cashcard
29/06/2006 73.37 Petrol
228.08 Total

July
Date Amount Remarks
08/07/2006 150 fine
08/07/2006 67.79 Petrol
08/07/2006 20 Parking coupons
27/07/2006 6 fine
21/07/2006 74.9 Petrol
318.69 Total

August
Date Amount Remarks
19/08/2006 25.8 petrol
25/08/2006 73.93 petrol
99.73 Total

Average running costs for 5 months is approximately $251. Add $705 fixed costs and you get around $956 per month. No shit!

Implications

1. It is probably advisable to get a car smaller than 1.6 litre (for better fuel economy) if you are earning less than $4000 per month (going by a general rule of thumb that expenditure on car should not exceed 1/4 of your income...)
2. You would need to earn above $3500 to have a car to be comfortable (I feel...)
3. Fines are not worth it!!!
4. Parking in SAF camps is free, can you imagine if you had to pay $300 per month for season parking in CBD? I hope schools don't implement cashcard parking =S
5. Touchwood but there are also no repair costs in case of accidents factored in yet...

But yet one can't deny the convenience of having your own set of wheels. Without my wife,

1. I would have needed to wake up at 530am everyday to get to Boon Lay (or even stay in) during my course.
2. I would have needed to carry the stack of 20+ books out of Pasir Laba camp to take a cab for my course.
3. I would have needed to carry the air weapon papaer and pellets on public transport for every training.
4. I would have to depend on the goodwill of others to fetch me to and fro my house if there was an outing at night...
5. I would have needed to transport the speakers for Air weapon competition in a cab, AND thereafter go to CMPB to collect the trophies for the same competition. How to make the uncle wait or to put the speakers at a safe place while I go collect the trophies?

All the above might sound like excuses, but after commissioning, I am expected to be much more independent, and to do a lot more things (i.e. run around Singapore more) and having a car really really helps. And one can't deny the fact that as you get older, the timings of outings also get later and later, meaning you either take cab or drive...

And so there goes my dream of owning a Honda Integra or even a Honda Civic, which woulld double the fixed costs of the car. Hopefully, I won't get sacked in future so that I can comfortably afford a Honda Fit (1.3 litre) (and no Cherry QQ thank you very much) in future.

But you know what's the worst thing? It's that you feel utterly ashamed of yourself because you are so lucky to even to be able to think about a car, while others around you got to grapple with much bigger problems. Stuff like rents and utilities to think about, or even the possibility of going blind, and having everything taken away from them if they go blind...

Shihua Shihua, you are a very lucky boy... Don't always complain that you have no girlfriend, at least you have *stop reading here if you are female AND sensitive* 5 best friends and FHM =P